Tanners expect 10-15% less rawhide collection this year

The leather industry in Bangladesh is preparing for a reduced supply of rawhide this season of Eid-ul-Adha, with tanners expecting to collect around 80 lakh pieces, down from over 90 lakh last year.
The decline is largely attributed to inflation, which has curbed people's spending on sacrificial animals, according to Md Shaheen Ahamed, chairman of the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA).
Despite the overall drop, the slaughter of cows and buffaloes may have slightly increased to approximately 50 lakh, driven by a rise in group purchases of larger animals, he estimated.
In contrast, the number of goats sacrificed is believed to have declined significantly to nearly 30 lakh, from over 50 lakh, he added.
The BTA plans to procure around 50 lakh cowhides in slated form, along with some buffalo hides and a small number of camel hides. However, widespread skin disease has damaged many of the cowhides, potentially reducing their market value.
Conversely, fewer goat sacrifices, coupled with greater awareness about proper hide processing, have resulted in better-quality goat hides this year, said Ahamed.
As of 10 June, about 4.05 lakh salted cowhides and nearly 50,000 goat hides had been delivered to Savar Chamra Shilpa Nagari, the country's main leather industrial hub, according to BTA.
Shaheen Ahamed told TBS that tanners are purchasing rawhide at government-set prices—Tk60–65 per square foot within Dhaka and Tk55–60 outside the capital. Regional traders are actively collecting salted hides across the country, with shipments to Dhaka expected to ramp up later this week.
After years of depressed prices, rawhide has seen a higher price this year—up to 100%, following the government's decision to permit the export of wet blue leather—the intermediate stage of leather processing—for the first time since 1990.
Wet blue leather, made from salted rawhide, can be stored for up to a year and requires additional processing to become finished leather.
While the export opportunity has boosted prices, local tanners fear a domestic shortage of wet blue leather if exporters see significantly higher prices abroad.
The BTA reports that its 125 member tanneries have invested roughly Tk10,000 crore to establish facilities for full local value addition. In addition to these, over 150 other leather-processing factories operate nationwide.
BTA General Secretary Md Mizanur Rahman told TBS that if the industry focused solely on wet blue exports, only a-fifth of the current investment would be required.
Presently, only three dozen tanneries—four of which are certified by the Leather Working Group (LWG)—are financially stable. The remainder face persistent struggles, which the BTA attributes to systemic challenges, including a lack of environmental compliances and proper certification.
"We are hopeful that international wet blue prices won't rise dramatically. We need to optimise our installed production capacity," said Rahman.
He also pointed out that export prices for wet blue leather are currently not much higher than domestic rates.
The leather and leather goods sector is Bangladesh's second-largest export earner, bringing in around $1.2 billion annually. The government aims to grow this figure to $5 billion by 2030.
However, stakeholders warn that Bangladesh's leather remains undervalued internationally, largely due to environmental non-compliance—particularly the dysfunction of the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) at Savar.
Sustainability-focused global buyers are increasingly unwilling to source from facilities that do not meet environmental standards.
Industry leaders have called on the government to urgently address the CETP issue to restore buyer confidence and help the leather sector reach its full potential.